Group advises Delta govt against renaming Warri city as kingdom

A group, the Urhobo Peculiar Advocates Organization, UPA, has advised the Delta State government against renaming Warri City as a kingdom.

The group who gave this advice through its national president, Hon. Ochuko Okagbare and Publicity Secretary, Comrade Ekure Obaro, in an enlarged meeting of the group held in Ughelli Kingdom Hall, Ughelli North local government area of Delta State while reacting to a publication in a state- newspaper where Warri city was referred to as kingdom, called on the state governor to re-address the issue in order not to mislead the public.

Okagbare had said that during the reign of Chief Mukoro Mowoe, Chief T.E.A Salubi and others as presidents’ generals of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, that there was never a time Warri was named as kingdom instead of Warri city as popularly known across the country and the world at large.

While advising against any plan to change the name, Warri city to kingdom, Okagbare said the three ethnic nationalities, Urhobo, Ijaw and Itsekiri have been leaving in peace and harmony and no individual, group or government cause quarrel or disunity among the three ethnic groups.

He pointed out that the decision to change Warri city to kingdom cannot be taken without an input from the various ethnic groups in Warri, saying that Agbarha-Warri and Okere Urhobo both in Warri South have their traditional rulers and Urhobo commissioner representing them at the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC.

The National President stated it clearly that the UPA will continue to advocates for the rights and privileges of Urhobo people across the globe, explaining further that Warri city is occupied by three major tribes (Urhobo, itsekiri and ijaw) and no ethnic group can lay claim to it as kingdom when they all have their traditional rulers.